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Politicsby Brew Editors11:20 pmMay 6, 20120

Best of Brew Comments

Former parks chief says city should audit departments EWOs regularly

“I am astounded that the mayor did not know Baltimore City does not audit the EWOs.  How could she not have known this?”
– Unellu

“This is completely unacceptable. City council must take action to address this. I think the hardest thing to understand is how a mayor could not think that this is something that needs to be resolved. What is to be gained by ignoring the problem? Doing audits should be SOP. What can be done to bring pressure to bear?”
– Dumbfounded

“Amen, Mr. Delaporte.”
– Rocky Ground

“Agencies should be routinely auditing contracts, change orders, and modifications.  Such auditing, if done properly, takes significant time and money to do and can be politically unfavorable.  What agencies should do is welcome with open arms procurement auditors.”
– Maryland Esquire

“The city has also received and paid over a MILLION  DOLLARS for incorrect water bills. The amount of money that Recreation and Parks has been over charged for water could be used to keep the pools open or prevent some recreations center from closing. The information I have needs to be made public.  Where is the audit departments???”
– Waterbillwoman

“Please e-mail me, and let’s set up lunch.  I want to thank and honor you for saving our citizens millions of dollars.”
– Chris T. Delaporte

“Strangers: Accountability and @MayorSRB”
– from billwedge, via Twitter
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Activists call Baltimore police tactics “abusive”

“Mr. Threatt resisted arrest. By not placing his hands behind his back he was actively resisting a lawful order. There is no brutality in the spraying of that person at that time.”
– MerkMan

“What about the point at about 1:42 of the video when they have handcuffed Mr. Threatt, placed him into a seated position on the ground, and an officer jams his knee right into Mr. Threatt’s midsection? That video is repulsive.”
– Guest

“There is no way the macing of a man’s face, after he is on the ground, and surrounded, and knee-pinned, can ever be justified. The man was subdued, and that apparently was not enough. Nope, they had to lift his head off the ground, shake the can repeatedly to get the most of the police budget, I suppose, and spray him while prone.”
– David Kennedy

“Just get a Johns Hopkins badge then the cops won’t bother you.”
– Ricardo

“Having looked into this protest, it had nothing to do with Civil Rights, it had to do with the locals feeling they weren’t getting hired to work at a Hopkins construction site. Keeping working people from their jobs because you feel you’re not getting your fair share?”
– MerkMan
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Rawlings-Blake on maced protester: “I haven’t seen the full video”

“I’m sure she’ll watch the video a ta time of her choosing.”
– Dennis, via Twitter

“I’m not under the false assumption that all police officers are angels, but (at least in the video) it seems pretty clear that Threatt is resisting arrest. He’s trying to buck the cops off his back and he keeps moving his arms around, even after he’s been maced directly in the face.”
– Stephen

“Macing someone who is restrained on the ground is a vicious act–it is likely to produce agitated withdrawal leading to a more violent police response. Both of the officers administering the mace should be disciplined and re-trained–there were plenty of officers around who could have overwhelmed the protester and cuffed and moved him if this was their goal. The protester should sue to trigger re-training by the city.”
– BrewFan1

“As someone who has been maced by police at point-blank range before, I can tell you that after if happens all your body will try to do is get your hands to your face. Every part of your brain body is screaming for you to rub your eyes, it might look like resisting arrest, but I (and everyone I’ve ever seen get maced) cannot control it. And police know that.”
– Christadaring

“BCPD cops need some zen and less trigger happy tendencies but the BCPD’s upper echelon does not help when it whitewashes serious incidents–the slow moving internal investigations, the administrative leave, the temporary suspensions are all forerunners of cover ups and defensive lies.”
– Unellu
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Indians, but no chief, at fire closing hearing

“It’s obvious to me that the chief and his assistant are not interested in the safety of the firefighters and citizens of Baltimore City…I can safely say as a retired fire captain with the Baltimore County Fire Department, that the closing of the fire stations is a mistake that will have serious life safety consequences. . . What Baltimore City needs to do is throw out the chief and lock the door behind him.”
– Ed calvert

“To the citizens of Baltimore. Please do not jump out of the window when your house is on fire. Simply position yourself out of the window and hang by your finger tips on the window sill. Now listen for the sirens. I know it sounds like they are far away, THAT”S BECAUSE THEY ARE!!!”
– The Gambler

“I would like to see those chiefs work a 4 day shift at the proposed houses to be closed and then look themselves in the mirrorr, hold their head high while they wear a dress uniform and sign the order to cut the houses. To save their jobs, they can and will do this. They have sold their souls for a dollar!”
– The Gambler

“It’s no secret that the Chief is out of town, Assistant Chief Henry has been signing orders that say Acting Chief of Fire Department.”
– JEHenderson1
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Inside City Hall: yeah to dog park, nay to rec center

“This article pits this as a zero-sum, this-or-that option. Rather than putting money into a 2-day pollution/noise fest geared towards out-of-towners, why not put that money into all forms of recreation. Or, reform the police department so that 5 figure settlements don’t happen.”
– Justin Winokur

“I don’t see this as a zero-sum this or that, as you put it. What I see is a city that habitually ignores its less affluent areas with the mantra we have no money. Reference this article about taking money from the Westport area to give to the Fells Point area.”
– Wickermano

“Just about any way you read this article, it comes out as the city should have pulled the money from the dog park and gave it to the rec center. . . There are many ways in which the city is wasting money that should be used for the rec center, but that is not to say that the dog park is a waste.”
– Justin Winokur

“I don’t have any kids. I truly love my dog but would never put her ahead of Baltimore kids.”
– MairZdoatz
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 Fire company that treated stabbed baby set to be disbanded

“Although a stabbed baby isn’t typical anywhere, Truck 15 handles a large volume of trauma in their neighborhood. Their first due is primarily inhabited by people getting by on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Shootings, stabbings and assaults ARE typical responses that Truck 15 routinely takes.”
– AJW

“Closing truck 15 will harm and endanger people and their safety, it will effect response time, and live saving response time as that with the infant will get longer I promise.”
– Aaronca81

“What the politicians don’t seem to remember is that the amount of territory  and the number of buildings doesn’t change just because of a change in population. Then they expect the county companies to cover for them.”

– Gina1720
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Rec centers as the center of citywide anti-obesity effort

“Grasping at straws.”
– A very concerned citizen

“I worry about the plan to centralize and consolidate rec centers given the dreadful state of public transportation in Baltimore.”
– Tiffany

“The key to the the childhood obesity problem is getting the parents engaged in making the lifestyle changes for the whole family.”
– EJD1984

“Rec centers surrounded by vegetable gardens, trees, parks and plenty of trails for walking and biking–and exercise machines inside–also nooks where kids can do their homework, supervised and safe–we desperately need this. EJD1984–often when we change the kids we can also change the parents.”
– Unellu

“Could it be possible to organize regular citizens with various skills to help improve the physical infrastructure of some of these buildings? I did some rehab work on my house and I know many other people that have as well. Anyone can paint. With one weekend of sweat equity I am sure that we could make a difference in some of these buildings at very low cost.”

– Wally Pinkard
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$38.7 million for Back River sewage upgrades

“I don’t understand what this publication’s beef is with spending money on sewer infrastructure. This is definitely not the first time I’ve noticed you reporting in a sort of flippant, dismissive manner on a contract for this kind of thing. It’s as if you think keeping human feces out of our waterways, off our streets, out of our basements, etc, is some kind of frivolous expenditure.”
– burgersub

“While I applaud the Family League of Baltimore’s mission to reduce ‘low birthweight and premature births and  infant deaths due to unsafe sleep’. I wondering if thee is any data showing how successful they have been?”
– p johnson

“Deaths due to unsafe sleep have dropped by half since 2009 through the work of the Family League and the health department. It’s a routine spending item because they’re in the middle of the project.”
– concatenate
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With Bealefeld retiring, Rawlings-Blake team loses key player

“The new commissioner has to develop a strategic vision that values the workforce and community they serve.  Leadership development within the workforce is essential in reforming the department, changing traditional thinking and paradigms will be a big challenge.”
– Ktrueheart

“As for Bealefeld hating David Simon’s Wire, that’s a compliment to Simon. The top cop is not a creative genius. He’s a govt. drone. I salute him for doing his job well and quitting when he’s ahead. But spending his time disparaging Simon’s gritty The Wire, that sounds like the top cop wanted a rosy picture of Baltimore.”
– Unellu

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